Week 4, Thing 9

I found an "edublog" created by an American literature teacher at the collegiate level. He uses his blog to update his class syllabus, provide wikis for his class, and give more in-depth directions for class projects. What really interested me was that Prof. Lanley provided links to most of the reading assignment - limiting the costs of textbooks for the students.

I added this blog to my Google Reader in hopes that I could come up with some ideas for my sophomores taking American literature and perhaps "borrow" any of those ideas that would be useful to me.

Week 4, Thing 8

The RSS feeds will probably be useful once I can figure out which ones have the easiest search/filter program. I'm finding it difficult to find blogs that would be useful to my class; in fact, many of the blogs that I thought would provide me with some ideas that would be useful turned out to be useless and/or lacked any recent updates (like my current blog).

Does anyone know which one of the suggested search tools is easiest to use?

Week 3, Thing 7

In the past year, I have surrendered to the pressure of doing two things that I never thought I would: preferring a digital camera and signing up for Facebook.

My wife is the reason I took so long to change my mind about digital cameras. She used to take photography classes at MCA, develop her own film, and take great pride in how much better "real" photos looked versus digital photos. Since film is becoming more difficult to find and purchase, she finally gave in and got a digital camera. When this happened, I thought that she would hate it (which she did at first) and long for the days of film cameras; however, when she discovered how accessible and stored these digital pictures were, she saw the light. Her revelation brought on mine and now we enjoy the capabilities of her camera - mainly the ability to see the pictures immediately after they are taken. Americans love instant gratification.

Facebook has reunited me with people with whom I would never be in contact...for various reasons. The chat feature on the sight allows a quick "stop and chat" without having to have those awkward moments of a stalling conversation. Yes, it's impersonal, but I've never been a phone guy anyway. I also love the fact that you can see the changes in people's appearance and interests over the years. The trivial status updates get on my nerves (i.e. Mike Gange is going to eat at his favorite deli today), but you can put people on the "Hide Posts" list. Thank God.

Week 3, Thing 6

Thanks to the "color wheel," I ran across this interesting bit of graffiti. It's crazy what you can find on that mash-up feature of Flickr. Because I have a cousin whose dream is be a make-up artist on horror movies, I am somewhat familiar with Lon Chaney and his work in make-up and pantomine in old horror flicks. This caught my eye since it appears to be Lon Chaney (something that someone else who saw it on Flickr believes as well) surrounded by hearts. Upon further inspection of the photo, I saw to the left of Lon an old, painted-over picture of a man watching waves come in...maybe? The caption next to it says, "I just wanted you to love me." Is that why the hearts are included in the more recent work? This picture offers an untold story and could serve as the subject of a writing assignment - perhaps a tale waiting to be told by some creative student. I really don't have much use for the mash-up in the classes I teach, but Flickr could provide some pictures of people and places that are mentioned in the authors (and their literature) that my students study.

Week 3, Thing 5 - Pickwick 1995

This is a picture of two of my best friends from high school (as well as today) just before we went our separate ways - one to Colorado College, the other to Emerson College in Boston. Aaaah, memories...and skinny physiques.

Week 2, Thing 3

For some reason, I chose the "Black Minima" page. Perhaps I can find a worthy avatar to justify this decision.

Week 1, Thing 2

The "lifelong learners" taught me, in that lovely tutorial, that I should re-think my view of problems as challenges. However, my strongest step - "playing" - only counts as a half-step. I find this to be encouraging.